Conference: Creatine in health, medicine and sport, Cambridge (Dr. Hofmann/Dr. Schönfelder)

Amongst keynote speakers of all over the world also Dr. Hande Hofmann and Dr. Martin Schönfelder presented their recent results of creatine supplementation experiments. Since 2005 creatine research is a fundamental research at the Institute of Public Health Research (Prof. Oberhoffer) including performance analyses up to molecular biology research such as mass spectroscopy and RT PCR analyses. Creatine is one of the most used nutritional supplements in sports. Besides its ergogenic effects the amino acid derivative creatine has become also an interesting compound in medicine research. Creatine is an ubiquitous energy rich phosphate in the human body which not exclusively serves as an energy buffer. It shows also beneficial effects in dement patients, metabolic diseases and increases live span in mice.  In context of negatively aspects of a creatine supplementation, creatine shows almost anecdotic reported side effects. Although the scientific history starts in the early 1960s there are still open questions that have to be answered. Therefore, creatine will be an important research field in the context of health promotion in the future as well.